Queenstown Airport (IATA: ZQN, ICAO: NZQN) is located in Frankton, Otago, New Zealand, and serves the resort town of Queenstown.The airport is 8 km by road from the CBD. The airport handled 1,248,878 airline scheduled passengers for the year ending June 2014,with passenger numbers still growing rapidly. At present it is the fourth busiest airport in New Zealand by passenger traffic. The airport has a single level terminal building with 10 tarmac gates with no jetways.

History

A regular scenic route between Queenstown and Milford Sound was first established by Southern Scenic Air Services Ltd in August 1951. Mount Cook Airline was the pioneer of tourist flights into Queenstown. Services began on 6 November 1961 operating DC-3s with three flights a week being operated from Christchurch on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday to Queenstown via Mount Cook and onto Te Anau/Manapouri. Later in 1969 HS-748 aircraft were used. A Mainstay of the Milford route was the Britten Norman Islander which began service in September 1970. They were used extensively on the flights to Milford Sound as well as on the Queenstown-Te Anau and Queenstown-Alexandra-Dunedin routes. The first international flight from Queenstown was on 1 July 1995 to Sydney. Queenstown opened its new $17 million International terminal extension on 23 June 2015 with a 4,100 meters of additional space to the south of the existing building. The new terminal has a mezzanine level on top to enable aerobridges to be included at a later stage.

Operations

Queenstown has become one of New Zealand’s leading airports for passenger numbers. Domestically, Air New Zealand connects Queenstown with Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch while Jetstar Airways operates services to Auckland. Auckland is serviced with Airbus A320 aircraft while Wellington and Christchurch are operated by a mix of A320 and ATR 72 aircraft. International flights have grown rapidly over recent years and year round services operate to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and the Gold Coast. Four airlines operate to these ports: Air New Zealand, Jetstar Airways, Qantas and Virgin Australia. International flights are operated on Airbus A320 or Boeing 737-800aircraft. The winter season is a very busy one with over 40 international flight arrivals and departures scheduled for peak weeks. Weather permitting, there is substantial daily charter traffic of light aircraft (mostly Britten-Norman Islander, Cessna 206, and Cessna 172) to Milford Sound and Te Anau on sightseeing trips. Air Safaris runs a link service to Lake Tekapo Airport. Helicopters are also very active.

Traffic

Busiest international routes into and out of Queenstown Airport (2014)

Rank

Airport

Passengers

% Change

Carriers

1

Australia, Sydney

187,151

24.0

Air New Zealand, Jetstar, Qantas, Virgin Australia

2

Australia, Melbourne

95,440

18.2

Air New Zealand, Jetstar, Qantas

3

Australia, Brisbane

59,091

27.0

Air New Zealand, Qantas, Virgin Australia

4

Australia, Gold Coast

1,568

–

Jetstar

Further Upgrades

In July 2011 newly installed runway lights were turned on for the first time. Airport management expects the lighting upgrade to lower diversion incidents at the airport due to low visibility. Queenstown is the last major airport in New Zealand to receive such an upgrade. The 2 million dollar project included 34 transformers, 25 km of airfield lighting cable, 124 lights, and was funded by Airways NZ In June 2008, Queenstown Airport Corporation announced plans to install approach, runway and passenger area lighting. Currently Queenstown airport has only Precision Approach Path Indicators (PAPI) available for pilot aid, so flying is limited to daylight hours only. The installation of this additional equipment could see flights arriving as late as midnight, although proposed night flights are controversial within the local community. Announcements in June 2010 were made with plans to triple the size of the baggage area to handle the large increases in growth and the addition of the extra airlines that have started flying into Queenstown. Plans are also in place to increase the size of the international arrivals hall. In April 2012 Queenstown airport opened its new sealed runway on the former grass runway the cost of this project was $800,000 and took 10 months to complete. “In the past the runway had to be frequently closed due to adverse weather conditions such as after a heavy frost or heavy rain which could cause flooding,” said Mr Steve Sanderson, Chief Executive Officer, Queenstown Airport. “Sealing the runway will greatly reduce the number of disruptions as well as further improve safety.”

Expansion work began in 2014 on the international terminal extending it further south adding an extra 4,080 square meters of floor space. The changes allowed the airport to process 1000 people per hour up from the previous 480. The outer shell was completed in June 2015. The interior will be completed in 3 stages. In November 2015 Queenstown began $17 million upgrades including widening its main runway from 30m to 45m and resurfacing the entire length. There will install a comprehesive lighting upgrade for the runway, taxiway and apron. Also new approach lights will be installed to facilitate night flying operations.

Strategic partnership with Auckland Airport

On 8 July 2010, Auckland International Airport Limited, the operator of Auckland Airport, announced it had entered into an agreement to take a 24.99% shareholding in Queenstown Airport Corporation Limited and form a strategic alliance between the two airports. The shareholding will cost NZ$27.7 million, through the issue of new shares. The alliance is expected to generate an extra 176,000 passengers through Queenstown Airport. Auckland Airport has an option to increase its shareholding in Queenstown Airport to 30-35% at any time up to 30 June 2011, subject to the approval of the Queenstown Lakes District Council. The new share capital from would allow Queenstown Airport to fund growth of the airport’s operating capacity and to pay regular dividends back to the community via the Queenstown Lakes District Council shareholding.

Incidents

On 22 June 2010, a late-running Pacific Blue flight to Sydney took off from Queenstown. At the time, the airport had no runway lights, and the airline mandated a departure curfew of 30 minutes before evening civil twilight, allowing enough time for the aircraft to return to the airport in case of an emergency. The Boeing 737-800 took off on a departure requiring a visual segment, after curfew, and in poor weather. Passengers described a distressing takeoff procedure, with the aircraft flying very low above Lake Wakatipu and the surrounding mountain terrain. The take off was deemed an endangerment to the safety of the 70 passengers and crew aboard by the Civil Aviation Authority. Both pilots were suspended over the incident, and in April 2011, the flight’s captain was charged under the Civil Aviation Act with unnecessary endangerment. This charge was later reduced to one of a careless use of an aircraft, with a maximum fine of NZ$7,000. In March 2013, the pilot, Roderick Gunn, was found guilty.

In another separate incident in June 2010 two airliners were found to have had a high potential to have breached the 1000 foot vertical separation required, according to a report by the New Zealand Transport Accident Investigation Commission. Both airliners were Boeing 737 airliners, one operated by Qantas Airways and the other by Pacific Blue. The report states that whether the minima was breached was not investigated further because in the circumstances it was clear that the potential for such a breach was high and that alone was a safety issue that needed addressing.

Because of the report and other concerns, Airways New Zealand and the Civil Aviation Authority have changed the procedures at Queenstown Airport. Flight paths have been altered for large passenger aircraft along with the innovative use of multilateration air traffic management which both organizations say will ensure this situation is unlikely to be repeated.

World’s Most Scenic Airport Approach in 2015

In PrivateFly.com’s 2015 survey to find the world’s most scenic approaches, Queenstown Airport received the most votes.